FlipTop Battle League

In general, the contest consists of three rounds with a time limit for each contender set by the referee. Sometimes time limits are agreed on by the participants before the battle. For 1 on 1 and 2 on 2, time limits are generally 1 minute to 3 minutes (with 30 second increments) and 5 minutes respectively. Odd number of judges are selected to judge the battle to prevent draws. Early iteration of rules allowed judges to vote for overtime. In early years, majority of judges voted for overtime or if no definite winner emerged from judges' votes.

However recently, the judges are not allowed to vote for overtime, they should pick a winner. The first turn is determined by a coin toss or prearranged agreement between two emcees who will took the first turn before the battle start. Written or non-written lines are allowed. Both sides can also bring props for the event. Filipino language is the primary medium although other languages or dialects can be used. Choking in any rounds increase the chance of losing the battle. The winner is determined by the decision of the judges.

The criteria for judging are the usage of words, content, performance, audience impact, delivery, and rapping style depending on judge's perspective.[3][6]

There are different conferences in FlipTop such as the Filipino Conference, Bisaya Conference, and English Conference among others.

The league has an annual tournament called "Isabuhay". A series of matches consists of undercard, non-tournament matches and tournament matches running for a year where the finals occurred every month of December. The emcees appearances on the matches depends on their availability.

FlipTop has three different battle formats which sometimes combined with Freestyle:

• Written - This format allows use of written lyrics along with freestyle and is now the standard format used in battles.
• Freestyle - At first the most common in all FlipTop tournaments, this format is now rarely done and has generally been replaced by the written format. Lyrics must be thought of during the battle.
• Old School - Is essentially the freestyle format but is accompanied with an instrumental, and is commonly used on tryouts.

There are also different variations of rap battle within the FlipTop tournament:

• Dos por Dos - Tag-team freestyle rap battle. It can be Emcee or Femcee, Freestyle or Written.
• Five on Five - Five-member team freestyle rap battle. It can be Emcee or Femcee, Freestyle or Written.
• Femcee Battle - All-female rap battle. It can be Freestyle or Written.
• Intergender Battle - Male vs. Female battle.
• Royal Rumble - A rap battle consists of more than two emcees randomly attack or bash each other.
• Secret Battle - Same as the other battles but with limited audience. Sometimes it surprisingly appeared in the day of the tournament unannounced.
• Won Minutes - Strictly one-minute per round format.
• Promo Battle - A rap battle without any judging occurred. For theatrical performance and entertainment purpose only.

Notes

Notes

Yelshawn and Bogchick faced and won against El D'No and 2Khelle for the 16th slot. But the video garnered too much dislikes, being the duo faced Olongapo's rappers, infamous for being "bano".

In its early days, FlipTop initially gained criticism for its use of strong language, mockery and bullying, prompting the city government of Makati to ban rap battles in the area.[9] As time passed, the events gained acceptance with the help of official FlipTop YouTube channel[10] gaining more than one million subscribers for which they received the Golden Play Button Award, and over two million likes on its Facebook fanpage.[11][12] Some emcees in the league recently are more focused on line delivery, hyping the audience in the battle, and gimmicks rather than dissing to attack the opponent; also the emcees improved their penmanship.[13] After it gained success and reputation via social media,[14] many amateur and other rap battles arose such as Sunugan, Word War, Bolero Rap Battles, Bahay Katay, Flipshop, Flipcap etc. Due to its freestyle and rhymed content, some academics considered it as modern-day "balagtasan" although some rap artists discourage the idea. Some educators considered FlipTop as 21st century Philippine literature[15][16][17][18] It caught media attention in that some emcees involved in FlipTop have gained commercial success like Abra,[19] Dello, Loonie, Smugglaz, Shehyee, and others. Also some of the lines spoke by the emcees in the battle became popular phrases used in the Philippines.[1][20]

• Official website
• FlipTop Battle League on Facebook
• FlipTop Battle League's channel on YouTube